Slight Advantages
by Storage-Jar
Summary: "You know Greek?" she asked, looking genuinely surprised. ** Being a demigod and its perks at school /Takes place after TLO, where TLH didn't happen.
1. Passing Notes

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Percy Jackson; Rick Riordan does.

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><p><strong>Percy's Pov<strong>

I was in English listening to Miss Williams drone on about the importance of using commas. It wasn't like she was boring and at least she didn't give me the evil eye like most school teachers (excluding Paul, of course), but the _topic_ was boring.

I think Annabeth was bored, too, seeing that she was probably born knowing how to use them, but she didn't show. It looked like she was paying perfect attention and taking careful notes.

I wrote in my notebook _Are you seriously taking notes on how to use commas? I'm so bored :P_ I wrote it in Greek, because I'm dyslexic when it comes to English, but perfectly fine when it's Greek. I figured since it would be hard for me to write a note in English, it'd be twice as hard for Annabeth (who also has dyslexia) to decipher what it says.

A bit about the Greek thing before we continue: Personally, I think it's cool we automatically know a language (or at least, it comes to us easily), but the fact that it makes demigods dyslexic makes it not-so-cool. And then there is the fact that people think you're stupid just because words float off the page for you. Jeez, it's not our fault the Greek gods prefer ancient languages.

I ripped the page out of my spiral-bind notebook and folded it into a paper airplane. I threw it to Annabeth's desk, which was right next to mine, aiming for it to land smoothly on top of her papers.

It ended up hitting Annabeth on the side of her head. She glanced up at me with an irritated look. I mouthed _sorry_. She rolled her eyes.

What? How can she blame me? It wasn't intentional and she knows how much I suck at archery, so my aim isn't good. I'm better at throwing objects in a baseball kind of motion, like crumpled up pieces of paper, but I'm not so great when it comes to throwing things (like paper airplanes) that have a similar motion to archery. I guess. If that made any sense to you.

She picked up the airplane, unfolded it, and read it. After she read it, she wrote her own message. She turned her body slightly, so I couldn't see what she was doing with the paper.

Annabeth threw a paper airplane back. It glided to a smooth stop on my desk. It appears that this airplane had slight modifications from mine, but worked a whole lot better. Well, she _was_ a daughter of Athena. Go figure.

I unfolded the plane and read her note underneath mine. It was written neatly in Greek. _Gods, Seaweed Brain. Of course I'm not taking notes on the usage of commas. I knew how to use them right around when I started to know how to write. I'm working on the designs of the rooftop gardens on Olympus. You should at least look like you're paying attention. Teachers don't usually like the "glazed over" look in their students' eyes. If you're bored, then …_

I didn't get to see the rest of the note because suddenly, it was snatched up in the air. I looked over. It was Josh.

I don't even understand why he hated me so much. He was this obnoxious guy (100% mortal according to Annabeth) with beautiful brown hair that made girls swoon and normal black eyes – mostly only demigods have the startling eye colours (or so I've noticed). I guess it was one thing you inherit from your godly parent, hair colour too, besides the skills and power. Sorry, my ADHD makes me go off track. Anyway, he was the typical mean school bully. I guess bullies hate everyone besides their own little posse and hot girls, but I think he hates me especially.

"Miss Williams! Percy's passing notes!" I glared at him. Annabeth glared at him too and I think her's was more effective because when he looked over at her, he cringed a bit and looked apologetic. I didn't blame him. When Annabeth gets angry, her eyes would go all stormy – this just proves my theory that most demigods have weird eye colours.

Miss Williams stopped talking and walked over.

"Percy Jackson, you know you're not supposed to pass notes." She was looking at me expectantly.

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry," I said.

"Mr. Jackson, do you remember what we do when someone is caught passing notes?"

I groaned. I did remember, for once. Miss Williams is crazy strict about passing notes, cell phones in class, etc. If anyone got caught in class passing notes, she would read them aloud to the class. I guess it did make some sense. It's embarrassing to have your private conversations be read out to the class.

Of course, Miss Williams doesn't usually notice. She's really absorbed with her teaching. I cursed Josh for tattling on me. Why did he hate me? I didn't do anything to him.

I watched Josh hand over my note in defeat. The note wasn't really embarrassing, but still. She'd probably tell Paul about it at lunch. Then he'd tell mom and they'd _both_ lecture me later.

Josh was smiling smugly from his desk, diagonally in front of me. I scowled.

Miss Williams looked at it, perplexed. "What's this? Where are these shapes and symbols?"

Huh? What did she mean? Then it hit me. I wrote in Greek, so she couldn't read it. I fought back a smile.

"It's in Greek," I said, flashing a smug smile at Josh, who looked disappointed that he couldn't find out what the note said.

"You know Greek?" she asked, looking genuinely surprised.

Well, it _is_ a shocker when an American teenage boy who had been kicked out of almost every school for nearly burning down some of them (blame the Mist), and top of that, with dyslexia and ADHD, claims to know an ancient language when he can't even handle English. Plus, passing notes in Greek meant I had to be fluent in it, which I was.

"Yeah, both me and Annabeth," I replied, as if it were no big deal. (The entire class seemed slightly intrigued that someone like me knew Greek).

I could see Annabeth's glare directed at me from my side vision. Probably trying to mentally send a message saying, "_Why did you tell her I was passing notes with you?"_

"Wow, really? Because we're going to start Greek mythology next class. Do you know some Greek myths too?"

"Only a little." Ah, the irony. If only Miss Williams knew. She'd probably die of shock.

"What about you, Annabeth?" She looked over at Annabeth.

Annabeth's glare melted away. "Slightly more than the kelp head over there." She pointed at me, clearly still annoyed I mentioned her about the note passing.

"Well that's good," Miss Williams said, completely forgetting about the note.

But the Fates would never allow me such luck.

"Miss Williams, what does the note say?" the annoying Josh asked.

"Oh right." Her expression turned cross, as if just remembering why she'd come over in the first place. "Percy, would you like to translate for us?"

Oh, great. I was definitely not going to translate what the actual note said. I mean, how was I going to explain about Mt. Olympus and all that? But I'm not good at quick thinking and making up good excuses on the spot, like Annabeth.

"Um … I was asking Annabeth about the difference between … uh … semicolons and commas … like how they're used and stuff." I know, I know, it could've been better, but it related to what she was teaching, so that's good, right? I'm pretty sure nobody in the class was convinced.

Fortunately, Miss Williams, being the kind and unsuspecting teacher she was, accepted that as a valid thing a note would say and we didn't even get in trouble. "It's good that you guys were discussing the uses of commas and semicolons, but please, Percy, next time, just raise your hand and ask."

"Yes, Miss Williams," I said.

Unexpectedly, the Greek hardwired in my brain that comes with being a demigod _can_ be helpful in getting out of tight situations.

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><p><em>This is my first fanfic. How was it? Leave a review. This story was inspired by other stories I read when Percy and Annabeth are in class, learning. (I can't find them at the moment). I don't think anyone has done this exact idea, but if there is one, please tell me. My grammar isn't perfect, so I'm going to look for a beta to edit my second chapter. <em>_I plan for this story to have 3 parts, so expect 2 other chapters soon._

*S-Jar


	2. Greek Mythology Unit Test

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Percy Jackson; Rick Riordan does.

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><p><strong>Miss William's Pov<strong>

After attendance, I read over some of my notes and began my lesson.

"So class, today we will begin our Greek mythology unit. We will cover the Greek gods and goddesses, the Greek heroes, and the different ages. There are many ages, but since we don't have enough time, we will be focusing mainly on the Second Brazen Age, more commonly known as the Heroic Age and a bit of the Golden and Silver Age. We will look at the more popular myths by Homer, Ovid – those people," I said, trying to give the class a vague idea of what we would be doing for the next couple of weeks.

I looked around at the class. Most people looked bored, but some looked interested and happy that we were doing something slightly different from just reading and writing.

I glanced over at Percy and Annabeth, remembering that they mentioned that they knew Greek and a bit of mythology – probably not much, maybe just a couple of gods.

I saw Percy smirk at Annabeth, as if to indicate he was _so_ going to ace this unit. Annabeth just rolled her eyes.

As I started teaching, I saw Annabeth gaze at me intently. The odd thing was that her gaze didn't look like she was learning the material, but more of seeing how I phrased everything and determining if she approved and agreed with me. It was as if … as if she was sure that she knew more than me.

"Greek gods were a way for people back then to explain weather and why things work the way they do. It was before science and understanding things logically."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth roll her eyes at the word _logically._ I saw Percy glance out the window uneasily.

I continued, walking around at the front. "Before our understanding of the sun, and how the earth rotates on a tilt around it, people believed that the Greek god Apollo pulled his sun chariot across the sky every day, switching with his sister Artemis, who drove the moon through the night sky."

It was weird, but I was pretty sure I heard Percy mutter _Maserati._ Isn't that like a car?

I began talking about how everything was a vast nothingness at the beginning of time. How Gaea, the earth, and Ouranos, the sky, created the Titans.

"They gave birth to 12 Titans: Iaptus, Oceanus, Hyperion, Themis, Thea, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Coeus, Tethys, Krios, Rhea and Kronos."

When I said Kronos, I saw Percy's face darken and Annabeth's eyes turn stormy. They both had a faraway look. At the same time, if it were possible, it looked like they were hurt and sad too.

I'm usually very absorbed with my teaching, but at the moment, I felt really spaced out. I couldn't help but notice little things about Percy and Annabeth. It must've been because of the shock that they both knew Greek so I was paying more attention on them.

I returned to my lesson and explained how Kronos and Rhea were the parents of the gods, and like Ouranos, Kronos was afraid of being overthrown by his children so he ate them. I explained Rhea giving Kronos a rock to eat and safely hiding Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida to grow into a strong young god. When I finished the story, I started talking about the gods themselves.

"Zeus was the king of the gods, lord of the sky and thunder. He oversaw the universe. His immortal wife was Hera, queen of the Heavens and goddess of marriage and motherhood. Her sacred symbols were the cow and peacock. Before I continue, does anyone know any other Greek gods or goddesses?"

Nobody raised their hands except for Percy and Annabeth. I wondered if they actually did know Greek mythology. There was a girl who seemed pretty smart in the other class, but mixed up a Titan with a god when she was answering this same question.

"Percy?" I asked.

He said, "Poseidon is Zeus' brother." Then, as if he were quoting someone, he stated, "'Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses.'" He smiled widely, looking like he said something really clever. It was almost like he was sharing some sort of inside joke with Annabeth.

"He's the god of the sea, and though his brothers Zeus and Hades got the sky and the Underworld, quite frankly, I think he likes the sea a lot more. Plus, he's got many mermen when he needs an army and a dolphin as his lieutenant," he continued.

More thoughtfully, he added, "Except, he's got a son named Triton who doesn't seem to like his other side of the family very much, but enjoys making condescending comments to them. He must be a pain to live with."

Annabeth looked like she was ready to smack him for his stupidity, which I wondered about, since Percy _did_ get the question right. She still had her hand up.

"Yes, that is correct Percy." Though I'll admit that the last part was a bit weird. "Anyone else know a god or goddess? Annabeth?"

She glanced in my direction, wondering why I called her name. Comprehension quickly flashed across her face.

She answered, "Athena. She _was_ the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy." I found it a bit weird how Annabeth emphasized _was_, and it seemed like it was mostly directed to Percy, who looked like he was blushing at the moment.

I continued on with my lesson, and these weird exchanges kept occurring between them. I shrugged it off. I needed more sleep – maybe I was just imagining all this. That was probably why I couldn't seem to concentrate. That had to be the only explanation.

It was not like there was something else going on …

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><p><em>Time lapse: After a couple of weeks, when the class receives their Greek Mythology Unit Test back<em>

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><p>When I handed back the test for the students to keep, there were many groans and gasps.<p>

Apparently, many of them thought Greek mythology was an easy unit. It _was_ an easy unit if you listened to the stories, though we did cover quite a lot.

It wasn't really surprising that most of the students bombed this major test because most didn't listen to my lessons. When I assigned reading out of the Greek myths book I handed out and questions that went along with it, only a few people completed it.

Annabeth and Percy (surprisingly) were the most detailed in the homework, though it was hard to make out what they wrote, because they were dyslexic and spelled words wrong. Though, I _did_ notice that sometimes Percy would write in the present tense, which I found strange.

Another thing I found strange was this test they took, they had no error in spelling. I thought at first they were copying, but since they got the highest marks, I figured they couldn't have.

I went over to open the curtains and the windows when I heard snippets of their odd conversation.

"…Seaweed Brain! I gave you the potion I got from the Hecate cabin! You should have been able to do way better …" Annabeth was saying. I leaned in to listen closer because what they were saying wasn't too clear, but a student came up to me.

"Miss Williams, how much will this be weighted in our mark?" Matt asked.

"I haven't yet decided, but maybe about 10-15%, considering that this was a big exam," I said, tugging at the jammed window.

"Okay, thanks. Oh and..." He asked a couple more questions and finally went back to compare answers with his friends.

Percy was saying "…advantage as a daughter of …" I didn't catch the last word because the window suddenly jerked open. I went to work on opening the next window, which was closer to them.

Another student came up to me to argue about an answer and I hurriedly explained to her why it was wrong because I was growing curious to hear more of what they were saying. I told myself that eavesdropping on students was not appropriate behaviour, but my curiosity wouldn't let me be polite and walk away. Besides, this window was jammed, too.

"What? Noooo … I got it right! _Hera_ threw Hephaestus off Mt. Olympus at birth!" I suddenly heard thunder, but I must've mistaken because it was such a warm and sunny day. That was why I was opening the windows.

But when I heard Percy's voice lower, it was like in response to the thunder, so maybe I didn't hear wrong… "Well, it's true. Don't deny it. He told us himself."

"I _know._ Are you questioning my knowledge? But my point is, in the myths they say that Zeus did, so you have to follow along with it to get the mark. Mortals don't know the truth," Annabeth said, slightly exasperated.

Wait … mortals? What did she mean by that? I was really perplexed. Maybe 'mortals' didn't mean the literal meaning, but more of a code of some sort. Then I traced back to what Percy had said ... _"_Hera _threw Hephaestus off Mt. Olympus at birth" _and Annabeth had replied, _"In the myths, they say that Zeus did". _

I didn't see how things added up. I knew they were talking about the question on who threw Hephaestus off of Mt. Olympus because he looked ugly when he was born. It was obviously Zeus. But … Annabeth said _"you have to follow along with it to get the mark"_. It seemed like she was saying that she only answered the question as Zeus to get the mark, not because she thought it was right. I knew myths often differed and contradicted each other, but I was pretty sure none of them said that any other gods had thrown Hephaestus off Mt. Olympus.

And then there was Percy saying Hera was the one who did it. He was so sure, like he witnessed it. Wait … hadn't he said, _"Don't deny it. He told us himself"_? Who was 'he'? The way Percy said it, someone with definite and reliable knowledge must have told him that.

And the way he phrased it. _"He told us himself."_ It was like Percy was saying that _Hephaestus_ told him.

_But that's crazy._ It was impossible. The gods weren't real, and even if there were some divine force that guided humans back then, it was back then. Not now. The gods died when science came.

I laughed at myself for even thinking these insane thoughts. But some part of me, deep down, sensed truth in their words.

I blocked out my thoughts and focused more on their conversation. Maybe they'll hint at something that would explain this whole misunderstanding. There was probably a logical explanation that I missed from earlier in their conversation.

"Why did you leave this question blank? Come on, it's a really easy question, even for someone like you," Annabeth said.

I thought back to when I was marking Percy's test. I remembered that he did leave a question blank, and I wondered why. I knew it was possible that he forgot, but the thing that got me wondering was why he crossed off part of the question. I couldn't remember which part though.

I think the question he left blank was "Name 5 great achievements of Heracles (Hint: His 12 Labours)"

I didn't hear Percy answer so I turned around.

I could see Annabeth's back, and Percy was the one facing me, so I could see his expression.

He looked so deeply sad, like the question brought up bad memories. He looked down and said quietly, "He didn't do anything great. They were achievements, but they weren't great. He was stuck-up and boastful. He wasn't a true hero." He glanced back up at Annabeth.

I turned back to work on the window, so they wouldn't be suspicious of me. I leaned in a bit closer and almost didn't catch Percy say even more quietly, "But Zoë was."

Zoë? Who was she? And what did that have to do with the question on my test? I couldn't piece together what he meant when he said that Heracles' achievements weren't great, and how it even related to Zoë and why he was so upset about all this.

I thought Heracles was every boy's role model. Well, role model if they knew who he was. Heracles was strong and probably good-looking too. He had a lot of bad luck because Hera didn't like him, but that didn't stop him from completing his nearly impossible challenges. It proved that he was smart too, because he always saw the loopholes.

There was a moment of silence before Annabeth said softly, "I know. She was. Maybe tonight we'll look for her in the stars -"

Now what did Annabeth mean by that? I was trying to lean closer because even though she was very close, she spoke very quietly. I knocked over a book on the counter.

Ugh! I hate myself for being so clumsy. I quickly bent to pick it up and hoped they wouldn't notice and continue with their conversation because I kept getting more and more questions when I wanted answers.

I wasn't so lucky. Annabeth stopped talking abruptly and they both turned to look at me. They seemed surprised that I was so close. The sadness quickly evaporated from their faces, replaced with expressionless, alert looks.

Annabeth's eyes turned hard and calculating, looking me over, as if analyzing to see if I had heard any of their conversation, and if so, how much. I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw Percy smirk. Her eyes flashed back at Percy, giving him a knowing look, almost like indicating to him that she could tell that I did hear their conversation and that they would talk later.

I didn't understand how she could tell that I'd been listening, but I could see that she just knew by looking at me. Was my face that easy to read? I placed the book back on the counter, and worked at the window.

"Yeah, so Percy, later we could go to that new burger place and celebrate the good marks we got."

Well, that was definitely not what they were talking about earlier. Before, they were all serious. Now … it was like normal stuff. I finally managed to open the window and went back to the front. I didn't bother with the other windows.

It was all very peculiar – like all I was missing was one very important puzzle piece, but without it, I couldn't see the whole picture.

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><p><strong>Percy's Pov<strong>

When I got my exam back, I was shocked. If I was reading it correctly, I think I got a 92%

Whoa. That must be _the_ first time I got an A. Ever. I think the teacher might've given back the wrong test to me. I knew that Greek mythology was a strong suit for me, because, well, I practically _lived_ in that world. But still. An A on my exam? And no less, a _high_ A.

I think the world is coming to an end. Well, the world did almost end a couple months ago, but Kronos is now reduced to almost nothing and out of our lives for good.

I stared at the 92% written on the page. It was just so shocking. I think this is about the equivalent of Ms. Dodds turning into a fury for the first time. Maybe my dyslexia was acting up and I somehow read the mark wrong and it was actually 29%

I think that made more sense.

Annabeth came over, beaming. "So what did you get on your exam? I got 100% finally!"

"Uh 29%" I said.

"What? That's not possible. Give me your test." I handed her my test.

"You're such a seaweed brain! You got 92!"

I said something like "um, really?" I took it back and stared at the number. So I haven't gotten it wrong the first time.

"Yes, really, Seaweed Brain! I gave you the potion I got from the Hecate cabin! You should have been able to do way better though. That vital cost a _lot _and there was so little. But I guess that makes sense. Any demigod going to school would want a potion that temporarily allows you to read and write without the words floating off the page. I figured since we both drank the potion and both know Greek mythology so well, we'd _both get 100%_. I guess I'm being a bit harsh here. This should be your highest exam mark, right?"

"Yeah, it is. You know, we don't all have a super brain. You have an unfair advantage as a daughter of Athena."

Annabeth just shrugged. "Which questions did you get wrong?"

"Um this one: 'What animal does Circe turn men into?'" I replied.

Annabeth smiled mischievously. "Shouldn't you know this one? After all, you did get first-hand experience."

I blushed. "Ha-ha. Very funny. But that's the thing. See, I didn't forget. I put that she turned men into guinea pigs, but I got it wrong. I think she marked made a mistake."

Annabeth face palmed. "Percy, that's what she turns men into nowadays. We're talking about back then. Miss Williams was looking for pigs as the answer."

"Oh." Well how was I supposed to know? Technically, I _was _right, because she did in fact turn men into guinea pigs. She told me herself that pigs were too hard to take care of.

"Okay Seaweed Brain, what else you got there?" She looked at me with amusement twinkling in her eyes.

"Well, it was the question about who threw Hephaestus off Mt. Olympus at birth. And this time, there can't be another possible answer like the Circe question because only one person can throw a baby off a mountain and that can only happen once," I said, proud that I actually made sense.

"Yeah, I get it. The correct answer's Zeus," Annabeth said matter-of-factly.

"What? Noooo ….I got it right! _Hera_ threw Hephaestus off Mt. Olympus at birth!" I yelled, maybe a bit too loudly.

There was a thundering noise.

Whoops. I guess Hera didn't really like it when people said stuff like that about her even though it was the truth.

I lowered my voice. "Well, it's true. Don't deny it. He told us himself."

"I _know._ Are you questioning my knowledge? But my point is, in the myths they say that Zeus did, so you have to follow along with it to get the mark. Mortals don't know the truth," Annabeth said, annoyed.

I guess she did have a point. When I was doing the exam (it was one of the easiest I've ever done), I wasn't really thinking about that. I was more amazed at how the potion allowed me to read and write perfectly well. People without dyslexia have it so easy. I was also surprised how experiencing this stuff made it really stick to you. As for the lesser known myths, and things I haven't experienced in my quests, well, that's where I found out that a lot of Annabeth's egghead facts rub off onto me.

"Okay then. Here, you can look at the rest of my exam." I gave her my exam.

"Really Percy? Another modern/back-then mix-up?"

"Well the Sea of Monsters _is _in the Atlantic Ocean! I even put 'the Bermuda Triangle' in brackets! I didn't know they were looking for the Mediterranean Sea! You know what? This is all your fault."

"What? How is this my fault?" Annabeth complained.

"Well, back when we were on kitchen patrol because of Tantalus," I made a face at his name, "I got it right. I said that the Sea of Monsters was in the Mediterranean, but you started going on about West Civilization and how things shift with it and how it relocated at the Bermuda Triangle. If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have gotten this question wrong," I justified.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're impossible. Moving on." She flipped through my exam and stopped at a page, scrunching up her eyebrows in concentration on a question.

"Hmm… 'Name 5 great achievements of Heracles (Hint: His 12 Labours)' Hey, the word 'great' is crossed out. Did you do that? Why did you leave this question blank? Come on, it's a really easy question, even for someone like you." She glanced up. She must've seen something in my face change because her eyes suddenly softened.

I didn't answer the question because I didn't want to. All I was thinking about was how Heracles betrayed Zoë. How he was the one that got her disowned by her sisters and made her join the hunt. I thought of how so many people knew about what Heracles did, and how so little people knew what Zoë did. She went on a quest to save Artemis, even though she fully well knew she wouldn't come back alive. She was so much more a hero than Heracles. And just thinking of the reason why Zoë died … I felt immensely sad. It all lead back to Kronos and his plans to take down the gods – his plans that so many demigods died and suffered because of it. I wasn't sure how I could explain all this to Annabeth.

I looked down at my hands and said, "He didn't do anything great. They were achievements, but they weren't great. He was stuck-up and boastful. He wasn't a true hero."

More quietly, I muttered, "But Zoë was." I looked at Annabeth, to see if she understood what I was getting at.

She did. I could see it in her eyes. After a while, she replied, "I know. She was. Maybe tonight we'll look for her in the stars -"

That's when we heard a thump.

We turned to see Miss Williams bending to pick up a book. I was surprised she was standing so close to us. I guess she was trying to open the window since it was a sunny day, but how long was she there for?

Annabeth and I were so absorbed in our conversation we didn't even notice Miss Williams walk over. Not good. As demigods, we always had to be careful with what we said around mortals and be on the lookout for monsters.

I saw Annabeth scanning Miss Williams over, looking for secrets she might be hiding and weak points she had. I smirked. Annabeth was good at extracting that kind of information out of you just by staring at you with her intimidating gray eyes.

Annabeth looked back at me. I knew what she was trying to say: _We'll talk later._

Out of nowhere, Annabeth said, "Yeah, so Percy, later we could go to that new burger place and celebrate the good marks we got."

She probably said that because the teacher was right there. I saw Miss Williams force open the stubborn window and walked back to the front, deep in thought.

"I'm so excited! Are we finally going to go to 'that new burger place'? You're paying, right? Since the celebration's for me," I said, in an innocent voice.

"Oh shut up. No, we're going to go look at the stars tonight."

I nodded.

Living in a world with Greek myths coming to life might end tragic, but at the moment, something positive came out of it: it was helpful at school. I barely had to study for this test. And besides, I don't think I could ever go back to my life before knowing I was a demigod. Thinking back to that time, everything appears so boring and simple compared to now.

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><p><em>This chapter is definately longer than the last one. I hope it met your expectations and didn't feel like I was stretching it out too much. Tell me in your review, if you want. Oh and a huge thanks to <em>nicky1109_ for the first review. Thanks to everyone else who alerted, reviewed or favourited this story. It turns out I didn't find a beta yet, so hopefully there weren't many mistakes. I know the ending isn't that funny, but I tried to make the middle kinda amusing. I'm not sure when I'll have time to write up the last part. It might be tomorrow, or it might be next week. Sorry about that._

_Also, some of the information on Greek mythology in this chapter comes from my head, the PJO books, wikipedia as well as 2 other websites:_

http:/ www. mlahanas. de/ Greeks/ Mythology/ MythicalChronology. html

http:/ www. argyrou. eclipse. co. uk/ Myths2. htm

_No spaces. Visit those websites in your freetime - they have like this giant timeline of everything that happened in Greek mythology and lots of other stuff._

*S-Jar


	3. PE Class

_This chapter is in tribute to the last week of waiting for the release of _The Son of Neptune_._

_It's for my disbelief that the book will finally be out.  
>It's a little something you can read before we are all too busy devouring the new book to care for FF .net<em>

x

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Percy Jackson; Rick Riordan does.

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><p>Ah. It was time for another <em>wonderful<em> P.E. class. I don't really hate P.E. It's a really nice class actually. No thinking required, and a time to burn off energy in my system gathered from long periods of sitting in classrooms.

What sucked about P.E. class was mostly _who_ was in it. Josh, the class bully, and his "gang" or "homies" (as he put it) was in my class, which, considering my luck, wasn't too surprising. They took it as their personal job and duty to make each class a miserable one for me. Honestly, I really wanted to beat them up slightly – just so I could get my message clear to them: Leave me alone. Or else.

Unfortunately, Chiron was strictly against harming mortals unnecessarily if they weren't a threat. Though, I'd have to say the case of Josh was debatable. It's not that he was a threat; it was more in the sense that he could possibly annoy me to death. Then where would we be?

"Hey Jackson! You ready for another terrible class? I'm going to send you to the nurse's office if we do a full-contact activity today," Josh yelled in my ear. I'd like to see him try.

"Ow! Josh, get your mouth away from my ear! You're going to make me deaf along with everyone else," I replied.

"Oh … well … uh … huh." Josh was scratching his head, unable to come up with something to insult me with from my statement.

Josh wasn't one of the brightest people in the world. In fact, I'd go as far as saying he's one of the dimmest. Heck, I've seen monsters with bigger brains than him. I guess that's mean of me to say, but the truth is pretty harsh sometimes.

"Okay, class! Gather around! I'm only saying this once! Today, we're doing a special activity. You're going to be sword fighting," Coach Mickelson announced.

There was an excited murmur spreading through the whole class. Probably thoughts on the potentially-harming equipment we were going to use. I wasn't particularly excited. Sword fighting was practically my life.

I was mostly curious about how Coach Mickelson was going to teach it. Coach Mickelson was nice and all, but he didn't seem the type to know. He didn't have the body for it. That isn't to say he's unfit, but sword fighting does require a lot of stamina and well, the coach didn't look like he could handle it.

"Now, the swords we are using are authentic swords -" I raised an eyebrow slightly at that "- modified to be particularly blunt at the ends. Still, that does not mean these won't hurt or that you can go around poking your friend's eye out."

Everyone laughed at that. Some kids grinned crazily, as if Coach Mickelson just gave them an intriguing idea. As for Josh, he eyed me with an expression that said I was first on his list to have my eyes stabbed out.

Jeez, life is harsh when even some of your _classmates _want to cause you bodily harm. One would think that demigods only had to worry about monsters.

Coach Mickelson droned on about the dangers of a sword, and the conscientious care we had to give to the sword as it was not a toy.

"Today, we're going to have a very skilled guest in the art of sword fighting teach us." Coach Mickelson indicated to a lanky, familiar-looking guy who was about 19 or 20 entering the room. The figure was dragging a bulging bag with him.

"He would like to be called Master Marcus, and I need you boys to give him your utmost respect. This is also my first time, so I'd actually like to _learn _something. On a side note, he could easily severely injure you should you annoy him to death like you do to me every class."

Some people started looking a bit nervous at the last part. Well, except Josh, who thought he could challenge and win anyone.

Master Marcus approached us with a fairly laid-back smile. It was then I realized who he was. He had chestnut brown hair and fresh-grass-green eyes.

He was Cameo Marcus, a son of Demeter.

I remember winning him in sword fighting when I sparred with the Demeter cabin in the arena despite all the grass he grew out of the ground in an attempt to entangle me. Gods, now _that_ was a mess. I was crazily slicing the grass up and in the end of our mock battle, we were both surrounded and covered in grass.

Then, of course, everyone that saw us gave us questioning stares – probably wondering if we were making grass angels.

I started wondering why he was here and what was up with the whole "Master Marcus" thing. Everyone at camp just called him Cameo.

"Okay, kids, that's right, I would like you guys to call me Master Marcus." At this, I noticed his smile turned into a small smirk. "And if you don't … you will face consequences I see fit."

He unsheathed his word, spun it in his hand and proceeded to demonstrate some elaborate, fancy moves (all of which I knew), spinning and leaping across the front of the gym. It looked like he was fighting invisible enemies. You could hear the air being slashed by the sword. He ended up behind the coach with his sword at the coach's throat. The coach's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

He put his sword back in the sheath and smiled good-naturedly. "No hard feelings, coach? I just wanted to show the kids some of the easier sword fighting techniques put together."

"…_Easier _techniques?… um … yeah, no hard feelings …" the coach stuttered out. He cleared his throat, and said to the class, "Yes, um, no horseplay. You must all listen to what Master Marcus has to say and follow his instructions."

All the boys in my class had faces of worship and fright. Cameo had an amused smile, but everyone was too worried about their own health to notice.

I smirked a bit, too. So Cameo was playing the whole "mysterious and lethal, but friendly guy" reputation. It seemed he was also aiming to give off this feeling that he was from another century. He would definitely seem weird to those who didn't know him.

Cameo, in actual life, was a relaxed guy. Someone you could easily hang out with. He also loved doing drama, a trait that didn't fit a son of Demeter, but might explain why he was acting like so today.

"I will be teaching you the basics, like how to hold your sword, your footwork and the different types of moves one can use on the enemy. Grab a sword and find a partner."

He paused.

"Remember; don't hurt anyone in this exercise. I'd like to see what kind of skills you have so far before I start teaching. Spar with your partner while I come around assessing you."

Everyone looked excited and pushed around, trying to get a good sword out of the bag.

Coach Mickelson looked absolutely horrified that the class was starting off without any real instructions.

And Master Marcus looked calm and obvious to the nervous glances Coach Mickelson was darting at him from time to time.

Cameo finally noticed the coach and said, "Why, Coach Mickelson, what are you doing over there, standing like a log? Go get yourself your own sword and we'll be on our merry way."

"But … um … Master Marcus … shouldn't the kids get a proper sense of how the sword is used _before _swinging it haphazardly at each other?"

"Nonsense! The first step in good sword fighting is experimentation. Everyone is born with a nature that knows exactly what to do with swords, but they must first find this lost inner instinct. Once found, pupils only need teachers for the much finer points," Cameo replied, waving off the coach.

The thing is, Cameo was forgetting that it only applied to _demigods._ Only _demigods _had this innate sense of how to use various weapons. The typical, American, teenage boy? Not so much.

I hoped that Cameo really did know what he was doing.

I went over the bag, not caring which sword I got because I knew none of them would fit me. Only Riptide did.

Once I got my sword, I was about to ask Matt if he wanted to be my partner when Josh came up to me, grabbed my collar, and yelled in my ear (again), "You're going to be my partner. And I'm going to skewer you with this sword! Won't that be fun?"

Master Marcus came over and separated Josh's hand from my collar saying, "Now, now, kids. Nobody's shish-kabobbing anybody today." He looked at Josh, and then at me, to make sure we got the point.

When he turned towards me, though, his grassy eyes widened visibly.

"Percy?"

"Hey Cameo." I smiled.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

"I'm surprised to see you here too."

"Percy, my man. How you doing? I never knew you went to this school," Cameo said, giving me a light punch and turning back to the real Cameo I knew from camp.

"I'm fine. But what're you doing here, teaching teens how to sword fight?"

"Well, firstly, it's a high-salary part-time job 'cause apparently not too many people know how swords work. Secondly, I thought it'd be cool if I could convince people to call me Master Marcus. It just sounds more … awesome. People at camp wouldn't call me that even when I asked politely. I've tried."

I was about to reply when Josh squinted his eyes and said, "Hey … wait a moment … you two know each other? How is that possible? How could _Jackson _here know someone as skilled as you?"

Cameo gave a knowing look. "Oh, I think Jackson here is plenty skilled himself."

"Jackson? Skilled? As if!" Josh snorted.

"Well Jackson, I think you should step up to this challenge. You know, show him what you've got," Cameo said. Then he leaned in and whispered so that only I could hear. "We both know how good you really are, so don't scare this big-headed moron too much, okay?"

I nodded, grinning. Cameo patted me on the shoulder and left, trying to spot anyone with the tiniest bit of experience and stopping those who were becoming danger hazards.

"Josh, you sure you want to do this?" I asked, giving him the chance to back out.

"Yeah, of course! You scared, Percy?" he mocked.

"No, but I'm scared for you."

He charged forward, swinging the sword madly in front of him, doing exactly what Coach Mickelson had instructed _not _to do. I easily step-sided and stopped him from slashing in the air with my own sword. I turned my sword, disarming him.

I didn't have to do the full disarming manoeuver because Josh wasn't even gripping his sword properly in the first place.

Somehow, in all of this, Josh tripped on his own feet and fell on the floor. I was impressed; his face found the floor without my help.

The whole thing lasted probably 5 seconds.

"I win." I turned around, walking to find another partner.

I thought Josh would be scared and leave me alone. Humiliated, he only got angrier, unfortunately.

He tried to lunge at my back right after he retrieved his sword. If it weren't for my demigod senses, I might've actually had to go to the nurse's office (not taking in account for my invincibility). I spun around and blocked his sword. In one fluid motion, I twisted the arm holding the sword behind his back, forcing him to drop the sword. I released his arm and caught the sword before it touched the ground. Now I had two swords.

I pointed both of them at his neck, and said, "Look, I beat you twice, so leave me alone, okay?" I dropped his sword and turned again to walk away.

It was really weird because it seemed the whole class had stopped what they were doing and had seen the two duels (if you could call them that) Josh and I had. Everyone seemed in awe.

"Good job, Percy. I see you haven't lost your touch. Now everyone, back to work!" Cameo said.

In the end, Josh looked like a shaken leaf and didn't challenge me anymore even when Master Marcus taught the whole class new moves to try out on each other. Who knew a little sword fighting skill could fend off bullies so well? Much more effective than - I quote my counselor - "talking it out".

* * *

><p><em>First off, I'm very sorry I took so long. It wasn't writer's block - I knew vaguely what I was going to write. The words just didn't come to me. Secondly, this piece of writing became something totally unexpected. I'm not too sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I can only hope you guys like it. Or at least, I hope it's better than the second chapter. I don't know why, but I just really don't like that second part I wrote. Did you like Cameo Marcus? Just curious. Lastly, thanks for reading. This is the end, unless I decide to rewrite the 2nd chapter or post an epilogue. <em>

_Please review ..._

_Signing off, _Storage-Jar*


	4. Epilogue

_Mm ... the possible epilogue has been written. Enjoy._

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Percy Jackson; Rick Riordan does.

* * *

><p>"You know what, Annabeth? I've been thinking ..." I began.<p>

"You, thinking? Don't push yourself, Percy," she said in a jokingly mocking way.

We were sitting under the shade of a tree. We had just finished sword fighting practice. Our armour was littered around us.

"Ha-ha. No, seriously, Annabeth. I've been thinking that it's actually nice being a demigod sometimes."

"Mmm, really? I've always pegged you as not wanting to be one – what with the gods constantly toying with you and monsters wanting you as lunch." Annabeth leaned back on to the tree's trunk and gave me a questioning look.

"Yeah, but there are positive sides to it, too," I countered. "Like, hero training beats school _any_ day."

"I don't know ... I'd have to say they're about equal. School is educational."

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to the daughter of Athena to find indecision between boring old school and exciting epic hero training.

"What about the fact that most teachers turn out to be monsters?" I pointed out.

"Touché, Seaweed Brain," she said, giving me a dazzling smile.

"Also, we get to handle lethal weapons at the youngest age. If you think about it, it's pretty damn cool," I said.

"Boys," she said, shaking her head, but grinning all the same, "so violent."

"Says the girl whose mom is the goddess of _battle_ wisdom," I shot back.

She smacked me in the arm. "Keyword being _wisdom._"

"Ow! What was that for?" I complained, rubbing my arm. "That just proves that girls are equally as violent as boys." I thought for a bit and added, "Definitely more vicious."

Annabeth rolled her sparkling, light gray eyes. "You know that smack in the arm did not hurt."

"It did so!" I exclaimed, though, in truth, it really didn't. One of the many nice things about invincibility.

"Anyway," I continued, "we're basically in on one of the world's biggest secrets. It's sorta nice knowing something someone else doesn't. There are just ... so many ... _inside jokes_. I guess you could put it like that."

"Yeah, I know what you're getting at." She had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Plus, my sea super powers are awesome."

"Oh, so that's what this is all about? You feel like telling me all about your 'sea super powers'?"

"Not entirely. I mostly thinking about how being a demigod isn't so bad. At least, not as bad as how I first thought it would be. But, of course, my sea super powers _are _undeniably awesome."

"That wasn't the only thing that you received as a demigod."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I questioned.

"You and your gigantic ego. It seems being a demigod swells it up ten times larger than an average person," she teased.

"My ego's not _that _big. I'm actually a very humble person," I defended.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," Annabeth waved me off. "But anyway, continue on your perceptive train of thought. Enlighten me."

"Right. Here at camp, I feel like I've found a home. That's another advantage a demigod has over a mortal: Camp Half-Blood. Not including all the activities this camp provides, (one being the lava climbing wall), just being here makes me feel content."

"Definitely a positive of being a half-blood." I knew Annabeth was thinking back to when she first got here and how this became her permanent home for a whole five years before deciding to give her dad another chance.

"And quests are a once-in-a-life time experience. They're absolutely exhilarating. I'll admit I did 4 quests too many, not including all the other mini side adventures and the war we had, but it's what makes up our life, right? Like, I don't know if I'm explaining this correctly, but do you get what I mean when I say we wouldn't be us if we didn't go through all that?"

She looked at me strangely, as if she was seeing me for the very first time. "Wow, Percy. That was ... very insightful of you," she said seriously. Then jokingly: "I didn't know your kelp-filled head was capable of thinking up all that. What have you been eating?"

"Hey!" I pouted.

"I know, I know, I was just kidding." She smiled. Speaking softly, she said, "You're right, though. And it's not just making up who we are today as a person. Those quests ... well, _we _wouldn't be, if it weren't for them," gesturing to our entwined hands.

Annabeth meant that we wouldn't be together if it weren't for those life-and-death quests. It was very true, too, as I thought back to when we first met. (We wouldn't have even met, to be perfectly honest, if we weren't half-bloods).

_I had just seen my mom disappear into a blinding light. This bull guy killed her. _I _killed the bull guy. The bull guy was after _me _for some unknown reason_. _Grover seemed to know, though. Speaking of which ... I had just discovered that my best friend had goat legs. Things don't get weirder than that. I was tired and shaking – as well as brain-dead confused – but more than anything else, I just really wanted my mom back. _

_I finally reach the farm house, collapsing on the porch. It's oddly calm now that the rain stopped. Glowing fireflies flit somewhere above me. The ceiling fans are slowly spinning, dizzyingly. I want to sleep this mess away. Wake up clean and new._

_Two faces look down at me. One looked like I've seen him somewhere before. The other was that of a pretty girl's with nice blond hair. I was starting to wonder if I had really died – why else would I be seeing familiar people and angels? I vaguely remembered something about how you talked to different people once you reached heaven..._

_It seemed like they were talking ... about something ... someone ... was it ... _me_? I was having a hard time processing anything._

_I drifted off into darkness._

-x-

_When I woke up, the strange pretty girl with the nice blond hair was there. She was feeding me something. She looked anxious and frantic, firing questions at me. My head felt like it was swimming._

-x-

_The next time I saw her – Annabeth – I noticed the pretty gray eyes. She told me that I drooled in my sleep before running off. I felt a bit embarrassed, though I didn't know why. Quickly, I changed the subject and asked Mr. Brunner ... er, Chiron, another question._

-x-

_After Capture the Flag, I realized that the girl, Annabeth, had set me up. She _knew _that Clarisse and her little group would attack me. She had it all planned out. It was probably to get back at me for spraying her with water from the bathroom incident (even though it wasn't directed at her). I deserved it, but I couldn't help but feel, strangely enough, a little betrayed. Though, mostly angry and pissed off. Then I was attacked/nearly killed by a hellhound ... and claimed by my dad. I'm not sure if I feel grateful or unhappy about this. I'm seriously muddled up at the moment._

-x-

_Annabeth continued to teach me Greek, but it seemed she was always in a bad mood around me. She was muttering a lot to herself, too. I was mildly concerned._

-x-

_It turns out that Annabeth was dying to go on a quest. I was not – but ironically,_ I _was the one who had the quest thrust upon in the limited time I arrived to this camp. So she was going to accompany me, as it was the next best choice to leading a quest. Grover was coming too, fortunately. As much as I liked Annabeth as a friend, she wasn't the most friendly or open or inviting._

_We had a little conversation on the way to the bus stop:_

_"So far so good. Ten miles and not a single monster in sight."_

"_It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."_

"_Remind me again – why do you hate me so much?"_

"_I don't hate you."_

"_Could've fooled me."_

"_Look ... we're just not suppose to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals." _**

_So now I found the reason for her sudden hostility towards me. It was because our parents didn't like each other. I wasn't sure how I was going to work with this girl on the quest. Not when she seemed so inclined to hate me, but deny it all the same. At least she wasn't outright ignoring me. It was a start._

Little did I know that it was a start of something so much bigger. I couldn't imagine _not _meeting Annabeth or _not_ being with her the way I was with her now. It was just too bizarre to imagine.

It was pleasant that we were hanging out and talking. A perfect way to cool down from sword fighting, in my opinion.

Yeah, it is undoubtedly nice being a demigod. After all, depending on how you looked at it, demigods have their own advantages, however slight they may be.

* * *

><p>** the whole little conversation are direct quotes from <em>The Lightning Thief.<em>

_Yes, this little story is finally over. Completely. _The very end._ Period. I actually quite like the epilogue (at the moment, at least) because, well, I've always liked reading dialogue. Plot is important, but dialogue gives the story the flavour. It makes it more satisfying. _

_Please review. I'm not going to force anyone to review, but when I receive a review, it really makes me feel loved (my writing). It means that you actually put in the effort to think of something to say. Sometimes, you can't help but wonder what you didn't do right ... why nobody's reviewing despite the story alerts or fav.'s._

_ Well, thanks for reading, because even if you don't review, it's nice that you read my story. I must've done _something _right to capture your attention for this long._

_On a totally off note, I am finally almost old enough to drive a car. Very excited girl here ;)_

*Storage-Jar


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